


War and Relationships

by WeissGrayBlu



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood and Injury, Character Death, F/M, Injury, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28366581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeissGrayBlu/pseuds/WeissGrayBlu
Summary: Adeline Potter has had an agreeable life alongside her brother James. But times are changing as a war brews around them from outside the walls of Hogwarts. Their parents are the lead Aurors heading all investigations while their friends one-by-one vow to join the fight once they graduate. But Addie will be faced with more troubles than just Death Eaters.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	1. The Beginning of Everything

Euphemia Potter stood gazing out her kitchen window looking out onto the sprawling yard of Potter Manor. She watched as her son gave flying lessons to her daughter, who was only a year younger than him.

"At it again, are they?" Fleamont Potter announced himself as he came into the room to join his wife by the window. "That's every day so far since they've been home."

"Yes, well with James having made the team, Adeline is pretty keen to make it this year," Euphemia replied while keeping her gaze on the two children who were now hovering several feet above the ground on a set of matching brooms- a gift for each of them last Christmas.

"Addie sure doesn't like to let James do anything to one up her," Fleamont chuckled in amusement before he went over to make tea for him and his wife.

"Sometimes I worry James will lead her into trouble though," Euphemia confessed with pursed lips, although not without affection.

Fleamont chucked again. "Darling, Addie is much too good for that."

Euphemia smiled now in response to turn and face her husband.

"That or she's that much smarter than James and gets away with it," she countered. "We get a letter nearly every week from the school outlining James' antics, but are yet to receive a single one about Adeline. And they are much too close for me to believe she's not just as mischievous."

Fleamont walked back over with two steaming cups, handing one over to his wife who then went to sit down at the dining table in the adjacent room. It was still early enough in the morning that the sun was only just peeking over the tree line. The children had woken up hours before and eaten a quick breakfast before heading outside where they had been for the past two hours. Euphemia had heard the children wake and got herself up soon after, but by the time she arrived downstairs, the house-elf had already helped the children pour their cereal and clean up after them as they ran out the door. Her husband instead had taken a lie in since it was a rare day off for both of them from the Ministry.

The couple who were now enjoying each other's company were interrupted by a tapping at the window. Euphemia turned her attention to see their owl Artemis with the post. Fleamont was already standing to collect the three envelopes Artemis held in her mouth before Euphemia could do it herself.

"Ah, this one is from the Ministry," Fleamont announced placidly which turned his wife's mouth into a frown.

"It's a summons," he continued which confirmed Euphemia's suspicions.

"It's our day off, dear," she sighed even though she knew it didn't matter.

"Yes, but there has been another disappearance," his explanation came out more strained before he came over to kiss her forehead and then left to retrieve his cloaks.

Euphemia sighed before turning her gaze toward the remaining two letters which she had already recognized had the Hogwarts seal. This prompted her to get up and open the back door which was just off the kitchen.

"James! Adeline! Your grades are in from Hogwarts," their mother exclaimed into the yard which prompted the children to quickly dismount from their brooms and rush towards the house.

"James! Wipe off your boots! You already make enough mess for poor Garrick to clean," Euphemia chastised her son while referring to their family house-elf.

Her son James obligingly returned to the back door to remove his boots without a second thought before re-entering the dining room where Euphemia awaited with the crisp envelope. Despite his mischievous nature, James did always obey and respect his parents, much to their liking.

Both of their children were very close with their parents, despite the long hours Euphemia and her husband were used to working at the Auror Office. It had been a difficult sacrifice to make when they had decided to have children, but Euphemia and Fleamont were dedicated to their jobs and in turn spent most of the daytime hours during the work week at the office. It had become much easier when the children started attending school away at Hogwarts, but both parents tried their hardest to show their children just how important they were to them. In turn, both Adeline and James seemed to understand the responsibilities that came with being an Auror and what that meant for their parents. As it was, they were both actually quite boastful of their parents' profession.

"How did you make out, Adeline?" Euphemia asked her daughter who was the first to open her letter.

"I passed all of my classes! But I could have done better in History of Magic," she answered before passing over her letter for Euphemia to read.

"Ah, well Professor Binns actually taught when I was going to school, so I can understand the situation," her mother reasoned.

James then tore into his own letter open to reveal similar grades as his sister.

"Well, I guess this calls for celebration now that Adeline is able to carry on to third year and James onto your fourth," Euphemia said provokingly.

"There was doubt?" Adeline countered in mock offense.

"Of course not, dear," Euphemia reassured. "Why don't we head out and celebrate with a fancy dinner in the city?"

"Will dad be able to come along?" James asked probably already guessing their father had been called into work. 

It was a common enough occurrence- especially recently with all the happenings in the wizarding world.

"I'm afraid not, dear," his mother answered to watch both of her children's faces fall. "But we can collect Sirius and have him stay the night."

The Potter's always took every opportunity to take James' best friend who he met in his first year, Sirius Black, out with them or have him stay over. It broke their hearts to see the treatment that boy endured in his own home under his insane, blood supremacist mother. Another, more personal factor was that the Potter's had at some point intended to have more children, but two ended up being the maximum two aurors found possible to handle.

So, from the day James had introduced Sirius Black to their family, Euphemia had grown to love the boy as her own.

That night Euphemia spent the evening at a nice Italian restaurant with all her children, one they usually frequented whenever there was cause for celebration. Sirius had excitedly joined them and brought along an overnight bag as well. It was also helpful that since the birth of Adeline, Fleamont had argued that the family should have a muggle car so as to not have to apparate with two small children. The common presence of Sirius around made having a car even more practical since it was extremely difficult to side apparate three children.

Fleamont did end up joining the family since the restaurant was close enough to the Ministry and Euphemia had sent him an owl with the good news. It ended up being quite the lovely evening where the boys were surprisingly on their best behavior and spent most of it asking Fleamont about details from the odd disappearances that had been happening. It sometimes worried Euphemia of their keen interest in auror affairs, but at the same time she prided herself on her son's aspirations for following in his parents' career paths.

Euphemia also watched her daughter who lit up every time her father spoke, especially during his gifted ability for being an excellent story-teller. She was sitting in-between Fleamont and James and talked of nothing more than her goal for making the quidditch team this year. In return, James and Sirius both beamed at her encouragingly as they had both made the team this past year and were helping her to train. Euphemia also thought that playing quidditch in their third year was reason enough for concern, but she couldn't help being proud of her children's efforts which is why she remained silent on the matter.

As they all sat around the table, Euphemia took the time to simply enjoy the moment. As cliché as it sounded, even in her own mind, she knew times were changing. These disappearances were nothing to be taken lightly and they had just opened a covert investigation into them. She also knew that her children were getting older by the minute and would grow to be more and more independent. She was fiercely proud of her children, Sirius included, but she wasn't quite prepared for things to change as all three of them seemingly threw themselves towards their futures. Euphemia knew that one day it would have all changed and that made her heart both gleam and ache.


	2. Fourth Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adeline and James set off for Hogwarts. One whole year has passed.

"Hey Addie, I found your quidditch jersey packed in with mine," James exclaimed as he entered into the room unannounced.

"I've been looking all summer for that!" I replied before rushing over to James to grab the gold and red shirt from his hand.

"James! Adeline! We're going to be late!" our mother called from downstairs.

Knowing we were already cutting it close, I threw the jersey into my trunk before grabbing a rogue pair of socks off the floor and then closed it shut. James and I then set off down the stairs.

"You think after five years we would have gotten this right by now," our mother chorused as she ushered us out of the house.

Seeing my father was already standing in the drive, I went to stand beside him while James stood beside our mother. Moments later, all four Potter's apparated to King's Cross Station. It was already 10:55am by the time we all walked through the brick wall between platforms nine and ten and rushed over towards the scarlet steam engine.

"Make sure to write to us about quidditch tryouts!" I heard our mother call out as both parents helped their children with our trunks onto the train.

"We will!" both James and I replied together to bid mum and dad farewell.

"And for goodness sake, try and stay out of trouble James!" mum added to which James just ran his fingers through his hair and laughed.

"Adeline, watch your brother," Fleamont ordered instead.

I smiled in return before nodding that I would, knowing it would irritate James.

"Hey! I don't need a babysitter! I'm the older child!" James rebuffed petulantly.

"Go get a seat," dad responded in dismissal to James' complaining and instead waved his children away.

James led us off to continue down the train's corridor looking for our friends. It wasn't long before we came across the rambunctious compartment where the fourth and fifth year Gryffindor's were seated.

"Addie!" one of the fourth-year girl's cried out when we entered the compartment.

"Blythe!" I responded with the same amount of excitement.

Similar to how James had met his best mate, Sirius, Blythe and I had shared a dormitory since our first year and met during the welcoming feast. We were fortunate enough to have sat beside each other and mocked James all throughout when Blythe noticed him unsuccessfully try to magically change the hair colour of the girl sitting beside him. Fortunately, again, Lily Evans had also noticed and reamed him out for being an idiot. It wasn't until the next day when I plucked up the courage to own up to the fact that James was actually my brother which caused another round of hysterical laughter, cementing our indefinite friendship.

In the last four years though, Blythe and James had become good friends as well along with the other dorm mates who were also sitting in the train compartment.

"Oi, this trunk is heavy, move along," James ushered his sister, prompting Blythe to let go.

I then turned around and was met by my other three dorm mates, Fern, Elodie and Zelene who all stood to greet me. The five of us sometimes seemed like an odd group, from all different walks of life, but that hadn't stopped us from all become incredibly close. Blythe and I were both on the quidditch team after we had both tried out in our second and third years. On our second attempt Blythe had become a beater alongside Sirius while I became keeper. James was the team's seeker while our friend Max, who hadn't yet joined us, was one of the chaser's along with our quidditch captain Indigo Bloom. Indigo was in her sixth year and had taken over from our previous captain who had recently graduated. This also meant that there was an open chaser position, allowing that we all re-made the team.

Aside from quidditch though, Blythe was athletic by nature and always offered her opinion, even when you weren't necessarily looking for it. That didn't mean that she wasn't still very kind and extremely loyal amongst her friends and fellow Gryffindor's. Next was Elodie, who was another personality all together who loved all things feminine and sophisticated. She also made a lot of her own clothes and had excellent taste; something she continually pointed out that I had none. Fern was somewhere in between since she was quieter and more reserved than either of them but livened up whenever she was around her friends. She was also extremely patient and often thought before she spoke; another quality most of us lacked. Zelene finished off the crew with a flare of personality. She was overly zealous in everything she did and became extremely determined if she decided she wanted something, including boys. The rest of us had not yet become very interested in dating which had sadly disappointed Zelene. She herself had started dating this past summer and with it set her sights on Sirius, as she had continually mentioned in her letters. Her interest in boys however had far pre-dated the summer.

Adeline couldn't quite fathom the craze which was the Hogwarts obsession with Sirius Black and James Potter. For obvious reasons, she had no idea about her brother, but Sirius had a lot of fatal flaws which could easily cancel out his innate attractiveness. Yes, he had the glossy hair, the muscular build, the uniquely gray eyes, and always dawned a smile; but he was also self-absorbed, egotistical, and had a propensity for pulling pranks.

So, it wasn't surprising that once they all started to sit down, Zelene made her way to sit beside Sirius while James sat on his other side with their other dormmate Remus Lupin by the door. The four of us girls sat on the other side while Peter Pettigrew, the last fifth year Gryffindor, was forced to sit on the floor, as was usually the case. Adeline often felt bad for the shy boy who had somehow managed to stay friends with the other boys who were quite raucous and almost too self-assured, aside from Remus. Moments later, after they had all settled in, the compartment door opened, and two more boys filed in, Max and Wendall. We had met Max two years ago when Blythe and I had tried out for the team for the first time in our second year. All three of us hadn't made the cut as a lot of seventh years were still on the team at that point. But the following year the three of us had easily swept away the competition and taken the vacant spots left by the graduated members. Wendall on the other hand was Max's best friend, who had met him in first year in their shared dorm together.

"Budge up will yah?" Max asked as they both stowed away their trunks and went to sit down.

We all groaned as both sides shuffled down so Max could sit beside Elodie while Wendall sat beside Remus.

"Hey, why couldn't you have done that for me?" Peter whined though James just waved him off.

"Well we can't do that now," he answered instead which made Peter sulk on the floor.

"So." Max interjected to break the awkwardness. "When do you think Indigo will hold quidditch tryouts?"

"By the end of the week for sure," James replied easily.

"Think you'll all remake the team?" Wendall asked while those of us from the team last year all scoffed.

"There's no way any of us could be replaced," Sirius stated confidently.

"But I do wonder who will get the open chaser position," I added in interest.

"I know Donald Bowler from third year was eager to try out," James said although shaking his head disapprovingly.

"That guy can't even fly a broom straight," Sirius replied bowing his head in blatant disappointment.

"Well, I've heard Riley Bedford is also gunning for it and he's not half bad," I added.

"Isn't he in third year as well?" Blythe asked.

"Yea, but I think he can actually stay on his broom," I added while James sighed.

"Well, let's hope he can do more than that."

Riley Bedford did end up proving his worth when he filled the vacant chaser position along with everyone else reclaiming their old positions. Gryffindor had kept a pretty fit team over the past few years, especially since most players practiced diligently over the summer. Addie and James could often be seen training in their backyard, especially since their parents were home less and less these days. Sirius would also join them as he had spent most of the summer at the Potter's manor anyway. Blythe trained with her brother who had since graduated off the team a few years back while Max physically trained despite not being able to ride a broom during the summer near his London home.

"I think that went really well everyone!" Indigo beamed once we dismounted our brooms after a two-hour practice.

"Hufflepuff won't stand a chance," James added smugly which earned a round of nods from the others.

"Just don't let that big head of yours get in the way of catching the snitch tomorrow," Blythe commented.

I snickered along at her side, bringing up my arm to wrap around her shoulder.

"You just make sure to keep the bludgers away from me and I'll make sure I win the game for us," James countered nonplussed, Blythe just rolling her eyes in return.

We then all headed for the change rooms to clean up before supper.

"So how was practice?" Elodie asked once we arrived in the Great Hall.

"Hufflepuff won't know what hit them," Max answered confidently back from his seat across from us, the boys having arrived before the girls.

"Oi, you're almost as bad as James," I replied chuckling.

"No, that would be him," Blythe commented while pointing towards Sirius.

"Hey, Turner, I heard that!" Sirius retorted with only slight indignation.

I noticed his elevated irritation when as we all started laughing; Zelene maybe a little too hard.

Since Blythe and Sirius were beaters together they were always going back and forth like this. They really did get along, though both had big enough personalities to not let the other get away with anything. Zelene's reaction however was a little discouraging.

"Don't tell me you're still on about Sirius?" I asked woefully later back in the dorm.

I had seen this same things too many times before.

With her black, wavy hair and Amazonian stature, Zelene was undoubtedly very beautiful and, at times, made Adeline feel inadequate. Her letters this past summer had also been filled with her romantic ventures with a local muggle boy named Todd before her interests had turned to focus more onto Sirius.

"That's all she's been talking about for the last month, haven't you noticed?" Fern added in her no nonsense way.

"I never caught the name of whoever Fit and Fearless was," I replied blandly.

Zelene often came up with a code name for the guys she went after, especially when James and Sirius couldn't keep a secret to save their lives. Especially since they were popular, everyone seemed to know their business, and by extension, ours.

I could tell that none of the other girls thought this was a good idea but we all knew how determined and stubborn Zelene could be.

"Just don't make it easy for him," I cautioned, all too familiar with Sirius' love life to be moderately concerned.

The Potter siblings had always been close, especially pre-Hogwarts when all they had were each other in that large manor. So, when James went away to Hogwarts a year before Adeline and befriended Sirius, it came to mean that the two boys often shared far too much with her, including their love lives.

Sirius had become a playboy type by the time he noticed girls. He was also optimistically aware that nearly every girl in Hogwarts had some sort of infatuation with him, which he ate right up. James was hardly any better as he basked in his popularity and hardly ever turned down a girl who offered to willingly snog him. However, to make it worse, James had been smitten with one Lily Evans since their third year, and that was only a tentative guess; Adeline believed it started way before then. To make things more interesting for the rest of them, James was continually stone-walled by Lily who refused his constant, outward advances, which led him right back to snogging random girls. It was a nightmarish cycle which Addie had heard about too many times.

"Why won't he say anything?" a frustrated Zelene huffed as she sat down with us in the common room one night.

"Sirius won't ask you out?" Fern asked without ever looking up from her book.

"No! And I've tried everything. The first Hogsmeade trip is only a few days away and I'm afraid he won't ask me in time," Zelene sighed dramatically.

"You could always ask him," Blythe offered, though apparently this was unhelpful advice.

"No, that means he wins!"

"I've come to think this has become less about love and more about competition," Elodie chided in, looking more concerned than the rest of them.

"This was never about love!" Zelene exclaimed emphatically.

"Then I'm only afraid to ask why you've been going on about Sirius Black for the past couple months," I replied skeptically.

There were so many other things to talk about in a school that taught magic, not to mention all the things happening in the magical world outside of school, but all Zelene had wanted to discuss for _months_ had been how to catch Sirius' fancy and we were all exhausted with it. 

"He just seems the most interesting out of all the Gryffindor boys," Zelene explained rather vaguely.

"There are more houses than just Gryffindor you know," Fern offered while a frustrated Zelene just huffed.

"Yea but Gryffindor's know how to have a good time," Zelene explained although that didn't seem to provide any more enlightenment to the situation. 

I rolled my eyes, hearing Blythe snicker across from me but Zelene didn't seem to acknowledge it.

"You could go ask his brother," Blythe offered innocently enough though the rest of us scowled in outright disgust.

"There is no way I will ever go out with a Slytherin, most of all Regulus Black!" Zelene shouted scornfully.

It was true that Regulus was a slightly younger, physical model of Sirius, but their overall personalities and belief systems were complete opposites. Whereas Sirius was fun-loving, charismatic and accepting of others, Regulus was reserved, apathetic and believed in blood supremacy amongst wizards. Sirius hardly ever mentioned his family and ignored his brother outright whenever they were at school. I also knew that this past summer had been especially bad for Sirius at home with his mother and family which is why he had come to practically live with us.

"So, to cut this conversation short, I think I'm going to call it a night," I said after having heard more than enough about Zelene's infatuation with my brother's best friend and no interest in hearing more about Regulus.

"Why won't you just talk to him for me?" Zelene whined just as I made my way towards the staircase.

_So close._

Zelene started asking me this over the past week and I had absolutely no interest in becoming involved with the affairs of my friends.

"You know I won't" I answered without even turning around.

I heard Zelene sigh again as I continued to walk towards the stairs.

Saturday arrived with a very dejected Zelene while the rest of us started heading out for the village of Hogsmeade. This was only our second year in being able to go down to the village. It was exciting not to be the youngest one's going anymore and we could be more efficient in how we spent our time. The five of us girls were accompanied by Max and Wendall along with the Marauders who were not too far behind.

"So, we'll all meet at the Three Broomsticks in an hour?" James asked once we had arrived at the village.

"Sounds good," I confirmed before we went our separate ways.

The four fifth year boys headed straight for Zonko's Joke Shop while Blythe and I along with Max and Wendall headed for Honeyduke's. Zelene and Elodie announced they wanted to go to Gladrag's while Fern went on her own to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop for supplies.

"So, do you think Zel will drop this whole thing with Sirius?" I asked Blythe once we separated from the boys in the sweetshop.

"Probably not," Blythe stated plainly. "Why do you care?" 

I sighed before following her around the shop.

"I'm just tired of her asking me to interfere," I explained while Blythe nodded.

"Is that the only reason?"

"Of course," I answered, surprised by Blythe's suspicion. "Why would there be another reason?"

"I don't know, maybe you like Sirius," she answered again, with her trademark candor.

"How- how could you even think that? I don't like _anyone_ like that!" I replied hastily.

"I know none of us have really started to like anybody, aside from Zel, but I do think that if you were to like someone and go out with them, you and Sirius might actually be pretty good together."

I gaped at Blythe as she continued to look over the sweets. Until now, I had never even thought of boys in any context other than friends and hadn't even had any interest. The stories I heard from Sirius and James were enough to put me off all together, so I found it especially odd that Blythe would think Sirius would be an acceptable suitor. Sirius Black was an experienced playboy who seemingly knew every trick in the book and lavished in the attention his popularity brought him. What would he ever do with an inexperienced girl like me who also happened to be his best mate's sister?

"Ly get anything good at Honeydukes?" Sirius asked when he came to sit down next to me at The Three Broomsticks.

Ly was the name only Sirius used for me.

"They had these new ones called Glacial Snowflakes that I wanted to try," I answered before handing over the box to show him.

"Oh yea, these are pretty good," he replied easily that made me look back at him in confusion.

"But they didn't have them last year. This is the first year they carry this one," I explained.

"Oh, sod off James," Sirius whispered at my brother unexpectedly who was sitting beside him before turning his attention back to me.

I couldn't help but notice Sirius was rubbing his shin.

"Right, you're right Ly, I must have been thinking of something I tried in London," he explained while I continued to look at him skeptically.

"Would you like to try one?" Zelene interrupted us as she held one of her own up to offer Sirius.

She was sitting on my other side and completely leaned across me to hold one up.

"It's alright, Zel, I'll just go purchase my own," he answered politely while I saw Zelene's expression fall.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the eleven of us all packed around a table at The Three Broomsticks. We talked a lot about our recent win against Hufflepuff and the anticipation of facing off against Slytherin.

"Practices are probably going to start increasing to three times a week," I stated, earning a round of nods from the others.

"How're you keeping up with the OWL work plus quidditch?" Elodie asked the older boys who just scoffed and shrugged.

Surprisingly to most, James and Sirius were actually two of the top students in their year. No amount of quidditch practice seemed to effect their grades. 

"There's nothing more important right now than beating Slytherin next week!" James exclaimed proudly.

"And you wonder why Dumbledore made me prefect," Remus shook his head at his two friends.

Soon after they all meandered back to the school to make it back in time for supper.

That night the group spent it quietly sitting in the common room, or as quietly as the Marauders were capable of.

"So why the self-appointed name Marauders?" Elodie wondered out loud while the boys played a round of exploding snap.

"Because all heroes need an awe-inspiring name," James responded confidently off the cuff.

I already knew the story and how much effort the four fifth year boys had actually put into the name.

"Marauders aren't typically heroic, though are they?" Fern stated while Peter laughed boldly, James giving him a questioning look.

Peter stopped under my brother's gaze and bowed his head with an embarrassed look.

"We have an image to maintain and Marauder seems to sustain that quite nicely," Sirius explained simply, this time Remus smiled and shook his head a little exasperatedly.

"So why weren't we ever invited to the club?" Max added through his concentration was still on playing exploding snap with Wendall.

"Because we all met before we knew any of you and by that time the application deadline was closed," Sirius continued unabashedly.

"So why not Addie?" Blythe asked. "You obviously knew her beforehand."

"Because," I said somewhat dramatically before any of them could answer for me. "I am much smarter than all of them and refuse to give myself a name which paints a target on my back. If I'm going to get into mischief, I'm not going to get caught or arouse suspicion like these idiots."

Remus was really chuckling now while I saw Sirius give a surprisingly praiseful smile. James however remained quiet as I could see his ears turning a slight shade of pink.

"Better be getting to bed," Blythe interrupted when I noticed the late hour. "It'll be an early practice tomorrow and I doubt Indigo will let us leave until dinnertime."

We all then got up and filed to our respective dormitories.

"Why do you think Sirius refused to take my candy?" Zelene asked once we were all safely in the fourth-year dorm.

"Maybe he just didn't want them Zel," Fern offered while Zelene rifled manically around in her trunk for her pyjamas.

"It was just a harmless candy!" Zelene ranted though the rest of us just shrugged.

"Zel, I think maybe it's time to face the possibility that Sirius Black is just not into you," Blythe stated bluntly, leaving me to wonder if maybe she should have lessened the blow we all knew to be true by this point. 

"That can't be it, there has to be something else at play here," Zelene went on stubbornly.

Blythe turned to catch my eye and gave me a look I determinedly ignored.

However, I felt my face flush while I shook my head at the idiocy of it all. I did not like Sirius and he did not like me. Plus, he was an idiot for not liking Zelene, but I could also feel a sense of relief in my stomach that Sirius did indeed seem as if he wasn't interested in Zelene. I threw closed my curtains amid my confusion and laid back in my bed before I could give the situation any more thought. Instead I filled my mind with quidditch strategies. Tomorrow, I knew, was going to be a harrowing practice as they prepared to beat Slytherin next weekend and I needed to be prepared.


	3. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin

"Good luck today!" Alice Fortescue said as Blythe and I passed her on our way to breakfast.

Alice was a year older than us and a fellow Gryffindor along with her boyfriend Frank Longbottom. The two of them were known by pretty much the entire school for being the most genuinely nice and approachable people to anyone who crossed their path. Since Frank was also a year older, he had to put up with being in the same dorm as the Marauders; poor bloke.

"Thanks, Alice!" we both replied before continuing out of the portrait hole.

"Ready to squash some snakes?" Max asked once we sat down beside him in the Great Hall and reached for a bowl of porridge.

"Born ready," I grinned while Blythe nodded confidently beside me.

Our practices had gone by extremely well, and Riley was already becoming a prized asset to the team- something even James and Sirius would admit now.

"Anything today?" I asked when I noticed Fern reading the Daily Prophet like she did every morning.

"Your parents are investigating some more disappearances of some muggles in Yorkshire," she responded grimly.

I turned a frown without replying. It seemed my parents were always in the middle of an investigation which centered on the looming war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It made my stomach turn to knots in fear for their safety more and more these days. Being the face of the Auror department and being responsible for raiding Dark Wizard houses and hideaways did not earn you a forgiving reputation amongst the dark wizarding community.

James and Adeline also found this relationship to filter over into their lives at Hogwarts. It seemed there were many children of Death Eaters and their supporters who attended the school and were destined to follow in their family's footsteps; and unsurprisingly, they were mostly from Slytherin house. Their father usually told her and James the names of highly suspected Death Eaters since he knew their children went to school with them, much to their mother's hesitance. Their mother was always less willing to pass along information since she thought it would jeopardize their safety, they were still students after all. But so far it was obvious that Rodulphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Sirius' cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, and Alecto and Amycus Carrow, the Slytherin team's beaters were all destined to follow in their parents' footsteps. These group of seventh years all hung out together and were mostly avoided by the other students at Hogwarts. But I found them all to be cowards who stood behind a man who was no more important or impressive than a dung beetle. But what really bothered me most of all was how much Sirius was targeted by his relatives who prided themselves on upholding the Black name and accusing Sirius of sullying it.

"Morning, all," Sirius proclaimed as he and his dorm mates joined our group for breakfast.

"Anything new with mum and dad?" James asked from his seat beside him, indicating towards the Prophet.

"Just another investigation," I shrugged.

I didn't think James was as nervous as I was about mum and dad, especially since I knew both he and Sirius had plans of becoming Aurors once they graduated in a couple of years; something that also made me nervous.

"Ready to kick some Slytherin arse?" James changed the subject, showing even more confidence than I felt.

I didn't doubt my quidditch abilities, or any of my teammates, but the Slytherin team were ruthless and hardly ever played clean, especially against us.

"Didn't Amycus almost send you off your broom last year?" Elodie asked nervously, twiddling her thumbs in her lap.

I heard Max scoff from beside her, obviously not as concerned as El.

"Yes, well I wasn't expecting him to come up from behind and actually beat me over the head with his bat, but now I'm ready for anything," Max said in a waveringly confident tone.

"They beat you over the head?" Riley squeaked from further down the table with his face turning stark white.

"Yea, Slytherin are pretty nasty players, so don't let your guard down for a second," James explained to Riley who only managed to nod in understanding.

I could now see him having difficulty swallowing his porridge.

"Don't completely scare our new chaser," I chastised my brother. "We need him to score goals."

"Yea, but the lad needs to know what he's dealing with," Sirius reasoned.

"Alright team let's head out, shall we?" Indigo interrupted as she approached us from the far end of the table.

In response, we all stood up to follow our captain out of the Great Hall. Most of us walked in silence except for Sirius and James who never seemed to be able to stop laughing whenever they were together. Once we were all in the changeroom it seemed only seconds before we were being called out by the announcer. Walking out in single file, we were met with the sounds of the stands erupting into loud cheering. Most of the school showed their favour for Gryffindor by dawning some sort of red and gold paraphernalia while the Slytherins loyally hoisted their own house colours of green and silver.

Indigo went to meet Sirius' brother Regulus in the middle of the pitch who was the captain of the Slytherin team. Cordially, they shook hands before we all mounted our brooms in anticipation of the whistle. When it was blown moments later, everyone took off into the air and diverted to our respective positions. It didn't take long before I was in front of the Gryffindor goalpost where I could watch Indigo carrying the quaffle towards the other end of the pitch. Max had just passed it to her which meant she could easily score the first goal. The Slytherin keeper, Vincent Crabbe, was big and boorish, but greatly lacked the necessary techniques and skill to be a good keeper. This meant that Gryffindor easily scored on them. In turn however, Slytherin quickly became frustrated which increased their number of illegal moves.

I was now watching as Emma Vanity approached me with the quaffle. Max and Riley were trying to get it away from her but she had gotten a head start and knew they wouldn't make it in time. I wasn't worried though knowing how Vanity played and that she would make a duck at the last minute to try and score in the left hoop. But as I was watching her I noticed a blur of something coming towards me from my right which caused me to turn my gaze. Two beater bats were rocketing towards me without being attached to their respective beaters. At the last moment I managed to duck out of the way to avoid being taken out just as Vanity threw the ball and scored. Indigo immediately called a time-out.

"That's a foul!" James hollered in outrage while everyone rushed over to congregate in front of the Gryffindor goalpost.

"You can't toss bats at players, least of all the keeper!" Indigo argued roiling in anger.

"Gryffindor get's a penalty shot," the referee finally announced banally, with little interest in the illegal action having just taken place.

"You alright, Ly?" Sirius asked while I repositioned myself back onto my broom and nodded.

He gave me one more glance as if to confirm it for himself before nodding and setting off back down the pitch. The game re-started when the whistle blew and Max took the penalty shot. He easily made the goal which then set the game back into play. Sirius and Blythe were now getting more ruthless with their plays, as if they weren't already before. The Carrow's however were just as brutal and lacked the obedience towards any of the rules. It soon became a minefield with the chasers continually dodging bludgers and the occasional beater bat. The chasers were also more forceful as they tried to unseat their opponents off their brooms.

Thankfully, about ten minutes later, I watched James out of the corner of my eye dive towards a glint of gold. Moments later he was holding the snitch triumphantly in his hand, Gryffindor had won.

"You weren't kidding!" Riley said while we all walked off towards the changeroom.

I could see a few bruises already on his arms as well as a slight limp in his gait; however, this did not seem to dampen his triumphant spirits.

"Yea, Slytherins don't know the meaning of the word civil," James spat which earned him a pointed look in return.

As much as I despised most of our Slytherin school mates, James always seemed to outwardly loathe them. It made me uneasy sometimes, especially when he targeted them at random in the corridors.

"Party in the Gryffindor Tower!" Max shouted, successfully changing the topic and converting James' loathing into excitement.

That prompted James and Sirius to share a knowing look. As close as I was with James and his friends, they weren't really that forthcoming with some of their shared secrets, their capacity to produce sweets and beverages at a moment's notice being one of them.

While we walked back to the castle however, we unfortunately crossed paths with one Severus Snape.

"Looks like your poor little team couldn't win against us mighty Gryffindor's," James boasted; the two boys being self-proclaimed mortal enemies.

"It's pathetic that you think somehow brawn outclasses pure intellect," Snape quipped back, effectively provoking James' short fuse.

In response James drew out his wand towards Severus before any of us could react to the situation.

However, someone else with much a quicker reflexes came forward.

"James Potter put down your wand at once!" Lily Evans demanded storming over.

"Butt out, Evans," James quipped with much less anger in his voice.

"I will not let you attack Severus just for your own entertainment and ego," she spat back at him, causing James to flinch involuntarily.

"He's insulting me and my team," he explained while Lily remained vigil.

"You can't go around hexing every person who doesn't agree with you," Lily continued before James finally lowered his wand.

"Fine," James conceded before pocketing his wand, Sirius immediately stepping forward to lead him away.

"Let's go, Sev," Lily beckoned insistently, the rest of us still rooted in place by the spectacle.

I flinched inwardly when I watched Severus shake off Lily's hand.

"Let go of me, I don't need you to protect me!" he shouted unreasonably at her, Lily's face turning from annoyance with James to hurt.

"Sev-" she whispered, the prat shaking his head before storming off.

"That ugly little snake," James spat before I saw him reaching for his wand once more to start off towards Severus.

"What is wrong with you!?" Lily shrieked at James before she herself ran off in the opposite direction, no doubt holding back the tears that were evident in her voice.

James stopped in his tracks and I could see a look of indecision and confusion on his face. I knew James could be arrogant at times which always led him to act as he saw fit with little regard for anyone else, let alone the rules. However, it seemed Lily Evans had the skills to somehow penetrate that large ego of his and question his actions. I would have to ask her about that; at a better time of course.

The boys did go and get the supplies that they promised which incited a celebratory party in the Gryffindor Common Room. However, James was no longer in his regular boastful mood and instead stayed sulking in a chair sipping his butter beer.

"He's not taking Lily's comment very well, is he?" Fern observed, prompting all of us to turn our attention towards my sulking brother.

"Serves him right for his abrasive decisions," I scoffed before turning my attention back to the others.

"You're mad at him?" Blythe asked non-judgementally.

"Yea, it is Snape after all," Max added.

"James can't go around hexing everyone who looks at him wrong," I explained with burning agitation.

"But they're Slytherins. They're Death Eaters!" Max continued.

"They are not. Not yet anyways. And it does not give him the right to do whatever he pleases. He is not an Auror yet!" I rose to my feet.

The group was always divided in these types of situations. Max was always especially eager to agree with whatever Sirius and James had done since it was supposedly all in name of the war. Elodie and Zelene were also easy to forgive anyone who sent a hex in the way of a Slytherin since they were all considered the enemy. Blythe was always unusually quiet on the manner while Fern would often comment it wasn't our place to be the judge and jury. This left me to always be frustrated that James, and often Sirius, didn't seem to be able to contemplate where their actions would lead them. It wasn't even so much as the hexing being wrong, but the enemies they were surely making along the way. I knew as good as any that James and Sirius would make the Auror team the minute they graduated and then they would have bigger targets on their backs painted by their own arrogance. What would I ever do if I lost them?

My friends were still looking at me as if I were being unreasonable so I decided to go over to sit with James instead. Sirius was trying to convince him into joining the party while Peter nodded along and Remus looked bored. My arrival seemed to offer Remus an excuse to leave since he went over to sit with Fern and Zelene; lucky stiff. Elodie had since gotten up and started dancing with Wendall for a fast song while Max and Blythe were no doubt talking quidditch somewhere else.

"He's a lost cause," Sirius sighed as I sat in between them.

"What were you thinking?" I asked James in a relatively calm manner.

Or at least calmer than I had been earlier.

"I don't know, Addie. That- that Snivellus just makes my blood boil. And did you see the way he talked to Lily…" he stopped short at his own mention of her name.

"She doesn't want a knight in shining armour, you know," I said while I already knew the root of James' brooding.

"What does she want then. I would be anything for her," James replied desperately before his face fell into his hands.

I looked over at Sirius who rolled his eyes back at my brother's theatrics. I tried and failed to stifle a laugh.

"James, stop trying to be anything. It's not working, and you always end up being a pompous arse," I replied sternly. "I don't love the popular James Potter who always looks like he's stepping off his broom stick and has to have the last word. I love my brother who has my back no matter what and is always there for a good laugh," I said matter-of-factly, James just looking at me with an unreadable expression.

"Watch it there, Ly, you're not exactly an angel yourself," Sirius smirked by my other side. "I've seen you strut around this castle."

"I do not strut," I replied flatly. "But I am the better Potter," I added in an exaggerated tone, easily avoiding James' reprisal shove.

I stuck out my tongue before turning around and heading back towards my friends; I could already see the smile returning to James' face. Before walking away I felt a hand on my shoulder causing me to turn around to see Sirius had followed me.

"I don't know how you do that, Ly," he said in a rare complimentary fashion.

"He's not that mysterious," I chuckled.

"I've been trying ever since Evans yelled at him to get him to cheer up. You did it in under five minutes."

"Well he is always at his worst when his ego takes a hit," I answered with a laugh.

Sirius just looked at me for a minute.

"Want to dance?" he asked suddenly, taking me back.

"What?"

"It's a fast song, Ly, and your brother has already ditched me for some Ravenclaw who snuck in for the party," Sirius explained matter-of-factly.

Sure enough, as I looked over to where James had been sitting only a moment ago, he was no where to be found.

"And what about Lily?" I asked incredulously.

"She still won't date him, so he improvises," Sirius shrugged.

"That is disturbing," I shuddered, feeling my frustration flaring up again.

"Forget him, Ly and come dance with me," he said simply while holding out his hand.

"Oh, alright," I relented, accepting his hand to follow him to where Elodie and Wendall were.

The four of us ended up mostly dancing together in a small circle before Max and Zelene joined in. I could also see Blythe, Fern, and Remus standing off to the side while they watched us. Before long, Zelene and I went to get them to join, not taking no for an answer. It only took a little persuasion before we were able to convince them. Throughout the evening we all stayed on the makeshift dance floor, celebrating our triumphant win. Everyone approached us at some point to congratulate us, which we didn't let inflate our egos too much. At one point however, we all seemed to pair off as Elodie danced with Wendall, Blythe danced with Max, Fern somehow ended up with Peter who appeared out of nowhere, Zelene with Remus, leaving me with Sirius. Most of the songs were fast paced which left us goofing around and Sirius twirling me any chance he got. However, when a slow song did eventually come on, the easy atmosphere turned a little awkward.

"Come on, Ly, I need the practice," he said with an easy grin to which I shrugged and took his hand.

Sirius turned out to be an excellent dancer, leading me gracefully through a foxtrot.

"Where did you learn to dance like this?" I asked surprisingly, taken aback by his effortlessness.

Sirius scoffed. "All those high society balls the noble families throw so they can marry off their children to their cousins."

I shuddered at the thought because I knew it was true, there weren't too many pure blood families left. But before I could give it too much thought the song changed and Sirius took the opportunity to start twirling me around again. The rest of our friends all seemed to reconvene into our original circle and I could see Zelene moving closer to Sirius who was somehow able to maintain a respectable distance. Our dancing didn't last too much longer after that since half of us were exhausted from our game against Slytherin while the others were just beat by the late hour. So, we all bid each other good night, with James still nowhere to be seen, and made our way upstairs. As soon as we shut the door though we paused to listen to McGonagall ordering everyone to bed. We then shut off our lights and I was asleep by the time my head hit the pillow.


	4. The Prospect of Dating

By mid-October I started to see the slight changes the war was bringing into the castle. The group of seventh-year Slytherins, along with a few others, were now outwardly praising the name of Voldemort. It was almost surprising how blatant they were as they traversed around the castle spouting their nonsense about pureblood supremacy. Although James, Sirius and I also fell under the classification of pureblood, we were now considered blood traitors since we rejected the ideas of blood having anything to do with magical ability. So, it wasn't uncommon now for any of my friends or I to be shouted at or insulted if we ever crossed paths with them.

One such afternoon, Elodie and I seemingly tripped over our own feet while heading to the Divination Tower, only to look up and see Bellatrix Black and Roldulphus Lestrange heading towards us.

"Little Potty hasn't learned how to tie her shoes," Bellatrix taunted as if she were talking to a child.

Elodie looked slightly nervous beside me but took out her wand nonetheless to point it at the two Slytherins against their obvious jinx.

"Pathetic half-blood thinks she can stand up to _me_ ," Bellatrix spat with mad eyes regarding Elodie.

Despite watching her flinch, Elodie remained firm with her wand ready. During the interaction I swiftly got up off the stone floor, after having undone the binding jinx, and held my wand at Sirius' cousin.

"You don't scare us with your childish jinxes and superiority complex," I answered coolly, locking eyes with Bellatrix who still had that slightly unhinged look about her.

Her smirk turned to irritation since most others never talked back to her. She was far too used to people cowering before her and just opting to run away.

"Let's go, Bella," Rodulphus sighed, standing off to the side looking bored instead of superior like his counterpart.

Even though I knew him to be a bully towards the younger students, he was never as direct or boastful as Bellatrix was; she lavished in toying with her prey.

"I say when I've had enough!" she shot back in disgust without taking her eyes off me.

She had her wand held towards my chest while I matched her stance. Elodie still stood beside me with her wand drawn in a similar fashion.

"Better run off, little Potty, don't want to get hurt playing with the big kids," Bellatrix continued in her squeaky tone.

Moments later she surprisingly put her wand down and brushed past us while she roughly bumped my shoulder with her own. Rodulphus followed without provocation and fell into step a pace behind her. Once they were around the corner we put our own wands away with hesitation. It wasn't like Bellatrix to walk away without a fight. However, seconds later, we got our answer when Professor Slughorn walked past with an awkward smile.

"And those two are dating?" Elodie whispered reproachfully when we both started back towards our class.

"Well they're both horrible and both rotten to the core, so yea, I see it," I replied with prejudice.

"But she just bosses him around and he follows like a lap dog," Elodie continued.

"Well I don't think either of them deserve anything better," I replied, this time Elodie agreeing easily.

When we entered Divination, we took our usual seats in the back. Max was already there looking put out for the impending tedious lecture. Divination was a seemingly useless branch of magic, but it beat having to take Ancient Runes. We were the only three out of our group who had decided to take Divination and would spend the class competing for who could come up with the most ridiculous predictions. What was even more ridiculous however was that the professor typically agreed with our supposed glimpses into the future and praised us for our inherent skills. At one point he had even claimed that Max probably had a Seer in his family; this had almost brought us to tears with laughter.

"So, what's going to happen today?" I asked after the professor gave his lecture and we set up to read each other's palms.

"Why don't we see who you're going to date, Addie?" Elodie offered innocently, earning her a glare with that suggestion.

"Oo, I bet it's going to be Amycus Carrow. I bet him throwing that bat at your head was his declaration of love," Max laughed, that earning him a punch on the shoulder.

"Yea, well what about you and Narcissa Black?" I countered. "I'm sure you could get her to smile with all your hilarious jokes."

Max choked on his laughter and looked at me in disgust.

"That gargoyle wouldn't know how to have a good time if she read it in a book."

Elodie piped up. "What about you and Sirius, Addie?"

"Why would you even suggest that?" I asked disbelievingly, my conversation with Blythe coming unwillingly to mind.

Max's look of disgust turned to one of glee, the chaser obviously pleased with himself that Elodie had taken me by surprise. However, this was only because we never included our friends in any of our predictions.

"Sirius is worse that Amycus?" she countered.

"Well, no, of course not. But he's my brother's best mate."

"And..." Elodie said as if she expected me to come up with a better reason than that.

"There is no 'and'. You two just suck at match-maker and I am not dating any children of Death Eaters or my friends," I answered crossing my arms over my chest.

"Come on, Addie, we have to look at your palms," Max goaded with a smirk.

I sighed before unfolding my arms to begrudgingly show them each a hand.

"Yup," Max stated confidently after a few minutes of staring intently at my hand.

"It's official," Elodie added with a mischievous grin. "You are going to fall desperately in love with Sirius Black and have his children."

Both were howling with laughter as they wrote their supposed findings down. I quickly refolded my arms and glared menacingly at both of them for the rest of class.

"You both are the absolute worst."

Unfortunately for me, Max and Elodie were still talking about my supposed impending nuptials with Sirius when we sat down for dinner.

"What are you two laughing about that has Addie so pissed?" Blythe was the first to notice as the rest of the fourth years sat down to join us.

"We read her palms today and decided that she is to be married to Sirius by the time she turns nineteen," Elodie answered which started another round of incessant laughter.

"That can't be true!" Zelene exclaimed since she was the only one who apparently did not find this highly amusing besides me.

"Of course, it's not true!" I huffed grumpily into my plate.

"What's not true?" James asked as he sat down beside me, followed by the other three boys.

"Nothing," I said through gritted teeth, giving death glares to each of my friends.

We were not expanding to include Sirius in this nonsensical premonition.

"They're just giving Addie a hard time for failing a Divination quiz," Zelene stepped in.

I wasn't too thrilled about her choice in subject change, but it worked nonetheless.

However, all throughout dinner I couldn't help but look at Sirius as if contemplating him as anything other than James' best friend. I had known Sirius for five years and figured at this point I knew him fairly well. Each summer he came to stay with us more and more at the manor which brought some much needed reprieve to the quiet and emptiness it usually bore with the absence of our parents. But even though Sirius came to hang out with James, the two boys always included me in their games and pranks. It was almost like the three of us had grown up together. I also knew him well enough to notice that when we were at school, Sirius always acted a little different. He was more boastful and was always getting into trouble with James, whereas at home both of them were more reserved around our parents; even if the word reserved was probably too liberal. What was maybe more strange was that I even knew some more intimate things, such as his feelings towards his family and his dream to join the Auror Department with James once they both graduated.

But then there were the girls. It was no secret to anyone at Hogwarts that both Sirius and James sought out the attention of the girls who regarded them as prize boyfriend material. They were both handsome, popular, and loved to lavish their attention on any girl they were with. The only problem was their attention never seemed to last very long as neither one of them was ever with the same girl for more than a month, and those were the longer relationships.

On the other hand, I had never considered anyone to be a boyfriend, least of all the boy who played such a huge part in my life. It seemed odd that this subject seemed to be coming up more and more and it always led back to Sirius.

Plus, there was the whole Zelene situation, who had been harbouring her own crush for several months now. Wasn't it against some sort of friendship ethics code not to date anyone who your friend fancies?

That night we all sat in the common room as it was a rare night none of us had any impending homework due the next day.

"Where are they off to?" Fern asked from over her book, all of us turning to see the fifth-year boys running down the staircase only to leave the common room through the portrait hole.

"It's a bit late to be leaving, isn't it?" Elodie asked in her usual worried tone.

"It's not like they're much for the rules, and I think Remus is in the hospital wing again," I answered with a non-committal shrug.

It was common knowledge by now that Remus spent at least once a month in the hospital wing for his feeble health. I felt bad for the guy who somehow seemed to have enough energy to keep up with Sirius and James on his good days but ended up in the hospital wing on his bad. Maybe Sirius and James should take it easy if Remus was going to keep up with them.

"That's almost every night this week they've went out though, even when Remus wasn't in the hospital," Fern added astutely.

I shrugged again, knowing James and the others were probably up to something, but I always liked to know very little about their post-curfew activities. That way I could play innocent in front of mum and dad.

"I think I'm going to head to the kitchens, anyone want to come along?" I asked before standing from the comfy armchair I had been sitting in.

Everyone shook their head except for Zelene who decided to come along. Fern gave us a pointed look since she had just commented on the late hour, but we ignored her easily.

It was simple enough to know which corridors to take so not to be caught by a prefect or professor. Not wanting to lure any unwanted attention, we walked in an amicable silence towards the basement until Zelene decided to break it.

"So, what's this I hear about you and Sirius getting hitched?" Zelene asked slyly once we had almost made it to the portrait of fruit.

"Bloody hell, Max and Elodie just can't keep their traps shut. Sirius almost heard it at dinner," I replied in annoyance. "They came up with a stupid fortune in Divination today, it's completely bogus," still knowing how Zelene felt about Sirius.

"Well, I actually wanted to say that I think you and Sirius would work really well together," Zelene said plainly.

"You can't be serious," I exclaimed in shock. "There is no way I am ever going out with him! He's my friend…. and you're my friend… it's never going to happen," I stuttered until Zelene put her hand up to cut me off.

"Addie, I don't really like Sirius in a way to fight over him with you. After watching you two dance the other night after the match, you compliment each other well," she continued plainly.

"But I don't want to date him, or anyone for that matter," I tried to explain since no one seemed to be getting this important detail.

Why wasn't this getting through to her, or any of my other friends?

"Addie, you're going to start to notice boys sooner than you think and when you do you're going to be able to have whoever you want," she said confidently, making my face go scarlet.

"You can already have anyone you want, Zel," I replied, trying desperately to take the attention off of me.

"True," she said smugly. "But I just wanted to help you realize that you are one of the most popular girls in school, you're beautiful, talented, and always work to get what you want. When you discover that you want Sirius, or anyone else, they won't stand a chance," Zelene finished.

I was speechless for one of the few times in my life. Zelene had been my friend since our first year and I had always found her to be the most obvious kind of beautiful. She was also extremely smart, confident and driven; she could get anything or anyone she wanted. Why she was telling me this, especially since I had no interest in dating anyone, least of all Sirius, I had no idea.

"So, who does this mean you're going after now?" I asked, wanting to try again to take the attention off my non-existent dating life yet again.

"Well, I would go after your brother, but my last name isn't Evans," she said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way I could bear hearing her plans on how to ensnare my brother.

"So, I don't know. No one seems to be challenging enough. They're all the same, Addie. They think I'm this beautiful girl they can woo after flexing their muscles or snogging a few times. In the end it's just disappointing," she explained tiredly.

I was surprised to hear this since I had thought Zelene enjoyed dating, but it seemed she was just looking for someone who could be her match.

"Well, you are exclusive to just dating Gryffindors and we are known for our big egos and smaller brains," I teased but was not at all serious repeating the Gryffindor stereotype.

Zelene laughed and shook her head.

She didn't add anything else though since we had arrived at the kitchens by this point and headed inside for our midnight snack. This new aspect of growing up seemed to be more confusing than I initially thought; by comparison, the war seemed to be more straight forward. I would rather face down Bellatrix in the hallway any day than try and figure out the complexity of dating. By what Zelene was saying, it seemed fairly difficult with not a lot of satisfactory results. James was also another example since he had been chasing after Lily for years and she still looked at him as if he were a toad. It seemed completely pointless to date and there were plenty of other things that were more important to focus on such as quidditch, friends, passing classes, and preparing for the war. So the sooner everyone else could focus on something other than dating, the faster we could just forget about all of this.


	5. Distractions

A welcomed distraction came a week later when we walked into Defense Against The Dark Arts. This year we were lucky enough to get a fairly-qualified professor who had even been an Auror for the French Ministry at one point, although Professor Agent had already announced she would be leaving at the end of the year for another Ministry position. I had really been hoping this one would keep the job for more than a year, but that never seemed to be the case.

James and the other fifth years had already filled us in on the lecture since apparently everyone above second year was going to face a boggart. Remus had been especially excited since he always took particular interest in dark creatures. So, we spent the better part of the week hearing about it, but I still didn't feel any more prepared to face my biggest fear.

This caused me to feel frustrated when we walked into class. I had been obsessing over it all week and still didn't have a clue what would appear in front of me. Every one of my friends had been speculating what they figured the boggart would transform into when they faced it and how they would react. Max figured it would have something to do with losing quidditch, while Fern was confident she would be faced with a snake. Alternatively, Elodie was unsure how the boggart would represent drowning, but she had been afraid of that ever since her mother told her she would if she ever got too close to their pond. Blythe on the other hand was unsure of what hers would be but was confident she could face it no problem. This had been immediately refuted by Sirius however who wouldn't believe Blythe could walk away unscathed. 

Wendall was absolutely sure that the boggart would appear as a swarm of bats, apparently that was how you got bitten by a vampire, whereas Zelene believed hers would be a clown. This left me, and I had absolutely no idea what I would be facing, and that's what scared me. After hearing the experience from James and the others, it seemed horrifying and I couldn't stand the thought of that kind of vulnerability. James reportedly faced a furious Lily Evans, apparently, the red head appearing before him with bright red cheeks and her arms folded across her chest. Sirius and Peter had found this hilarious while apparently the real Lily surprisingly hadn't said a word about it. Peter's reportedly turned into the group of seventh year Slytherins who constantly pick on him. I didn't blame the poor guy, he always seemed more vulnerable than any of the rest of us and often cowered away instead of standing up for himself. I still didn't understand how he stayed friends with James for so long, James often not having the patience for that sort of thing.

The one I really felt for though was Sirius since his had been a mannequin adorned with a Slytherin uniform; the thought of following in his family's footsteps being the thing he feared the most.

The boys had been unwilling to talk about Remus' boggart, but unfortunately for him the entire school was talking about it. Why was the fifth-year boy who hung out with the infamous James Potter and Sirius Black afraid of the full moon? A lot of the students, including our friends, had figured he was afraid of being bitten by a werewolf or something. When we talked about it earlier in the week I watched Remus looking nervous and the other boys acting vague on the subject. I almost asked why the boggart hadn't turned into a werewolf itself, but I could have sworn James could read my mind when he looked me in the eyes and shook his head. I hadn't brought up the subject since, but it still made me curious. Compared to Sirius, whom I knew his entire life-story, I knew very little about Remus. I knew his parents mostly kept to themselves and Remus seemed to get his poor constitution from his muggle mother who was often sick herself. I also knew that his father worked for the Ministry in the justice department and had notoriously gone against Fenrir Greyback who was now a known Death Eater. Other than that Remus and the others were pretty mum on the subject.

I felt my stomach knot when I sat down in my chair and pretended to listen to Professor Agent talk about boggarts. I could tell my friends were all finding the lesson to be quite fascinating, especially since Defense was typically about theoretical aspects instead of real life applications. But then again it was difficult to have practical lessons on the Unforgivable curses and dark magic.

"Alright, class, it's time for each of you to face the boggart," Professor Agent announced mid-way through the lecture which brought my attention back to focus.

There was an excited buzz across the students as they waited in nervous anticipation.

"I will call each of you up once the boggart has been properly dealt with by the previous student. Remember the counter-curse against the boggart to accurately dispose of it. _Riddikulus,"_ Professor Agent explained.

My mind became a flood of non-sensical anxiety, with the only relief that Potter was half way though the alphabet; thank Merlin Professor Agent was formal.

"Alderton," Professor Agent said as Arkie stood up, trying to appear more confident than his face showed.

I watched as the first few students faced their most prominent fears. Most froze at the sight of whatever the boggart had turned into before being prompted by Professor Agent to change its appearance into something comical. Then the whole class would erupt into laughter.

"Carruthers," Professor Agent called out.

I looked over to Elodie and watched her get up with the same expression she had bore when we had faced Bellatrix in the hallway. But, like she did then, she took her wand from her robe pocket and unwaveringly approached the box where the boggart was waiting. As timid as Elodie could be, she never let fear impede her from doing or accomplishing anything.

I watched as the boggart exited from the box, appearing as a glass tank filled with water. I could also see the reflection of Elodie inside with a panicked expression as the water rushed to fill up the tank. Elodie remained firm though with her raised wand and produced the counter charm before the professor even said anything. Moments later the once looming tank was nothing more than a small Rubik's cube.

"Alright, Fenwick, you're next," the professor announced as Elodie returned to her seat in the same controlled demeanor she had left with.

"How was it?" I whispered the moment she sat back down next to me.

"The most frightening thing I've ever experienced, duh," she rolled her eyes for good measure.

Obviously, boggarts showed you your worst fear, but that's not really what I had been asking.

"But you looked so calm," I replied, ignoring her comment.

"It was really like the air was being sucked from my lungs," she answered before I turned back to watch Zelene.

She was currently facing the creepiest clown I had ever seen. Instead of a smile painted across its face it had a maniacal expression, topped with beady black eyes. Moments later the clown was wearing a dress that Elodie was currently working on and kept in our dormitory. It's frizzy red hair was also replaced with flowers and its painted face was now uniform pink. There was nothing scary about it anymore; the whole class burst into laughter.

A few more students went next. I wasn't able to ask Zelene about her experience since she was sitting on the other side of Elodie who looked miffed that the dress she was working on ended up on Zelene's clown.

Next to go in our friend group was Wendall, which meant I was next.

"Mr. Porter, we haven't gotten all day," Professor Agent said tersely as she stared at Wendall who still hadn't left his seat.

Obligingly, Max pulled the scruff of Wendall's robes and shoved him out of his seat towards the cryptic box. Out of all of us Wendall had been the surest of what his fear would be and did not have any desire for wanting to face it.

I watched him inch closer to the box under the expectant gaze of the professor. Once he was close enough the box unlatched, and a swarm of bats was unearthed before dive bombing Wendall's head. It took several attempts for Wendall to even stand up straight to be able to perform the charm which eventually rendered the bats into paper maché. Wendall was about the same shade as a ghost by the time he returned to his seat.

Max gave him a congratulatory slap on his back which only caused him to trip over his desk and fall into his chair. He remained expressionless.

This was exactly the type of reaction I was worried about. I was the daughter of Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, two of the top-ranking aurors in magical Britain. I was the sister of the most popular boy in school whose only fear is the rejection of the girl he has been pining over for years and that I think has mostly to do with his ego; he also apparently has gotten over his childish fear of big dogs. But the important thing here is that Potter's do not feel fear and they are not cowards. Voldemort and his stupid cronies are the ones afraid of the world and that's why they feel the need to control it. I can't be afraid of anything if I'm going to be the one to stop and defeat them alongside my friends and family.

"Potter, you're up," Professor Agent called.

Obligingly, I walked up to the front of the class while I stared fixatedly on the looming trunk. How did this creature know me more than I knew myself? I had been wracking my brain this entire week and still had no idea what I was afraid of, but this creature was supposed to look into my eyes and know instantly.

I braced myself as I heard the lock unlatch. My breath stilled as I waited for that split second before my boggart appeared. Horrifyingly, James stepped out of the trunk with that stupid expression he wore whenever he was going after Severus Snape.

I heard some of the students behind me already snicker which made the image of James waver a bit. But my brother still walked towards me with that expression on his face, making my panic start to sink in. I realized that James was wearing his normal clothing and still had his wand outstretched in front of him; we weren't allowed to use magic outside of school yet. As vague as the situation appeared to be, I knew exactly what he was doing. He was being an arrogant git who wasn't using his head; he was going to get himself hurt. No, he was going to get himself killed.

I stepped closer to my brother, trying to get him to look me in the eye, but he only continued to look as if he were following something in the distance and going after it.

"James," I tried to get his attention.

He only remained focused.

"James!" I exclaimed more urgently.

I watched him raise his wand, as if he caught up to whatever it was he had been following. He had that same determined look in his eye which hadn't yet fallen from his face. He stood there, even more confidently than he before.

"Miss Potter," Professor Agent prompted but I barely registered it.

It was like this James and I were in our own world, but he wouldn't even look at me.

Then James disappeared and was replaced with a green flash.

"Miss Potter!" I heard more urgently but continued to ignore it.

James was now lying at my feet in a motionless heap. His arrogance had killed him.

I sank to my knees without a sound just staring at James. I knew this would happen, he never thought anything through.

A hand touched my shoulder, finally breaking my trance. I looked up to see Blythe standing beside me, offering her hand to help me up. I turned back to the floor, but James was already gone. Professor Agent had cast the charm and returned the boggart to the trunk. Defeatedly, I took Blythe's hand to stand up, my fear already becoming replaced with anger. How could this creature defeat me so easily?

Blythe led me back to our seats, me still seething in silence. I had never been so disappointed in myself before, not even when I had failed to make the quidditch team in second year.

Once class restarted I could barely focus on any of the others' boggarts. I only heard Professor Agent methodically call out each student as they stood up to face the creature.

"Selkirk."

Max went and faced his broken broom, he didn't have to see his dead brother.

"Taylor."

Fern stood against a grotesquely large snake.

"Turner."

Blythe ended the group. I tried to pay attention as Blythe herself hadn't known what the boggart would show.

I couldn't stifle my gasp, along with the rest of the class, as Voldemort himself appeared before Blythe. I couldn't help but stare intently and noticed several students with their mouths gaping open or even looking away in horror. Blythe however remained focused and transformed Voldemort into a plush dummy without missing a beat. The whole class erupted into laughter and applause.

XXX

The rumour that Adeline Potter was afraid of her brother circulated by the time we all sat down for dinner.

"Boo!" James shouted from behind me before sitting down in the Great Hall. "I didn't know I was that terrifying."

Some of the others laughed.

"Shut up, James," I retorted, having no patience for his teasing.

I hadn't yet talked about the boggart to anyone since I ended up going to our dorm to lie down in between class and dinner. In that time, it had only taken an hour for the entire school to gossip about me and make the situation worse. But I couldn't stop thinking about that stupid look on his face, the one that always made me nervous. It had only went away the last time when Lily shouted at him and forced him to consider not going after Snape. I was almost willing to go talk to her and ask her how she had done that.

"Seriously, Addie, what was up with your boggart? I don't think I'm that much of an arse that should be scared of me," James continued a little more seriously, but I could still see the joking smile behind his eyes which tipped me off.

"I don't even know how I could ever be this scared for an enormous prat like you!" I shouted before standing up abruptly to run out of the Great Hall.

It was all too much. I hadn't realized how much this war was getting to me and I wasn't even a part of it yet. I didn't know what loss felt like or even what it was like to be in real danger. Our parents had made sure to give us a sheltered childhood where they kept the darkness at bay away from us. Dad always regaled us with exciting stories from work, but he never failed to leave out the real-life aspects like loss and death. Now I felt like this had only led James down an idiotic war path which would inevitably cost him his life.

I kept running until I arrived at the quidditch pitch. Grabbing my broom from the storage shed, I immediately shot off into the air. It took me as high as I could go until the castle became outlined by it's torches flickering like fireflies. The sun was still shining but starting to touch the horizon line, threatening to descend and leave me in darkness.

I had never felt this overwhelmed before and didn't have the first clue on how to talk about it with anyone. Everyone's fears had been more about survival than emotional. Snakes, drowning, being bitten by a vampire, none of it had anything to do with losing their family. Plus, I was even more upset that I hadn't been able to even think about using the counter curse against it. I could face down Bellatrix Black and her cronies any day of the week, I could ride on my broom and have beater bats thrown at my head with the intent to unseat me, but I couldn't face a boggart. What would I be like standing up against the likes of Voldemort. He had never scared me before, but now I wasn't so confident in myself.

"Ly. Hey, Ly!" a voice called out as it came closer.

I looked down to see Sirius soring towards me on his own broom.

"Please tell me James isn't with you," I answered flatly but couldn't look around him to see.

"No, I convinced him I would bring you down instead," he replied coolly.

"What are you doing here, Sirius?" I asked bluntly.

"I'm going to bring you down," he repeated plainly, unfazed by my hostility.

"I don't want to go back down," I insisted stubbornly.

"You know, you could always talk to a friend about what's going on instead of shutting everyone out and yelling at James," he said with judgement absent from his voice.

I sighed.

"How am I supposed to talk to anyone? They all fear things that are intertwined in their DNA. It's survivalist to not want to be bitten by a deadly snake or vampire. James was dead. He had that stupid look on his face one moment and the next he was dead at my feet and there was nothing I could do about it since James doesn't listen to anyone," I rambled though Sirius only stared at me.

"Ly, James does listen to you," he said with sincerity in his voice.

"Not when it comes to chasing Snape. What happens when Snivellus becomes a Death Eater, huh? Then what?" I asked, working myself up. "How is anyone supposed to know what to say to this. Or to James to stop him from getting himself killed by his own arrogance?"

"I think I am the answer to both of those questions," Sirius answered softly.

"Your ego isn't helping this situation! I am already worried enough James' is going to get himself killed," I replied angrily before Sirius put his hand up in a surrendering motion, the other still holding steady on his broom.

"Ly, that's not what I'm trying to do here. First, did you think about the fact that my fear is about my family and not some primal instinct. My boggart was a bloody robe for Merlin's sake."

I stopped and thought about it. I had known about this, but I never really considered Sirius to be the one to work all of this out with.

"And second, I am always going to be at James' side so I promise I will be the one to save James from himself," he answered soberly.

"I'm not asking you to save his life or anything. Or to sacrifice yourself!" I started feeling a whole new set of worries sinking in.

"You don't have to, Ly, James is like my brother and I would cease to exist if he were to die," Sirius vowed solemnly.

We stared at each other for a moment.

"I'm not brave. I don't even know if I belong in Gryffindor anymore," I confided and broke our eye contact.

"Ly, how can you even say that, you're the bravest person I know," Sirius said while I looked at him incredulously.

"You are the only one I know who will even say Voldemort without flinching, you always stand up to my dear cousins when they corner you in the corridor, you walked right into the Forbidden Forest in your first year when James dared you to without a second thought, when you were younger you got right back on your broom when you fell from ten feet up, and you stand up for your friends when they need you," he listed.

"None of those things are very hard to do," I said impishly.

"Ly, you're joking! James couldn't even walk into the forest until his third year, no seven-year-old would remount their broom after falling from that high, most of the school doesn't stand up to the Slytherins, and most of Britain are too afraid to say Voldemort. You are so amazing and it's infuriating that you don't see that. You are not afraid of a boggart, you are afraid of losing your best friend who is also your brother. You see his flaws and know how vulnerable they make him when none of us are even brave enough to face that fact. Plus, I don't even know how you would make James' dead body comical for the counter charm," he stopped to stare at me intensely.

"Put him in a dress? Maybe blue to bring out his eyes?" I replied simply.

We paused again before bursting into laughter this time.

"I love you," Sirius said with the biggest grin on his face, making us both stop abruptly.

I could see his uneasiness and a blush starting to form.

"I love you too," I replied back with heat forming over my whole face.

"Better get back before James breaks his promise and comes up here himself," Sirius said finally.

Reluctantly we flew back to the ground in silence. I could see James pacing in the center of the pitch as we neared while Peter and Remus sat off to the side. James spotted us when he turned, and the others stood to come over.

"I am so sorry, Addie, I wasn't even thinking. I didn't realize I was dead at your feet! I'm such an arse," James rambled uncharacteristically anxiously.

In response I just went up to him and pulled him into an embrace to ease his nerves. We stayed there for several moments as I felt the anxiety ease out of his muscles. It was comforting to know that James, on some level, understood my own fears and maybe even felt them too. I just wasn't as much of an idiot as he was and thought about things before I decided to act.

"Are we good?" James asked, still with anxiety etched into his voice.

"We're good," I smiled before going to put my broom away.

Sirius followed me to do the same before following the others and heading back up to the castle. By this point the sun had set and the moon was now brightening the night sky.

"Looks like a full moon," I said casually which seemed to cause Sirius to look up at it a little too quickly.

"No, not quite," he said before I took another look and saw there was a sliver missing.

"I didn't realize you were so great at Astronomy," I teased.

"I'm not," he said simply before we fell into another silence and caught up with the others.

We made it back to the castle and ascend the stairs to the common room when I finally stopped, recklessly reaching out to take Sirius' hand.

"I just wanted to thank-you. You were right you know, I should have come to you," I said, feeling embarrassed with myself.

"I'm just glad you did end up talking to me," he said softly, still holding onto my hand.

"Well, you know, if you ever need to talk about yours, I'm here," I said, feeling the heat rise in my face again.

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied before I took my hand back and made my way for the portrait hole.

I looked back one more time before entering, seeing Sirius rooted in place.

"Good-night," I called out.

He turned to greet me with a smile.

"Good-night, Ly."


	6. The Start of Winter

Stretching out in my bed the next morning, the sun shone through the dorm window just right to kiss my face. Basking in the light, I kept my eyes closed to relish in the fact that today was a Saturday and I could finally have a lie in. Classes were piling on the work lately as we approached Christmas break and I was ready for it to be over.

However I was abruptly pulled out of my peaceful rest when a pillow suddenly smacked across my face.

"Oi!" I yelled, bolting upright to sit up and survey the room.

Blythe was already dressed in an oversized jumper and jeans, excitement stretched across her face and a pillow in her hand.

Blythe and Fern were always the early risers, which is why I wasn't surprised to see Fern's bed empty and already made. She was probably in the lavatory getting ready.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" my tone venomous as I stared down my best friend.

Not at all affected, she flicked her dark blonde hair over her shoulder with her own challenging look. Her hazel eyes always brought out the natural lowlights in her hair which gave her an effortless beauty. Blythe was never concerned with her looks, but I never believed she needed to be.

"It snowed last night!" she replied with an excited smile.

She then carried on to smack Elodie next with her pillow. The curlers which Elodie always slept with became disarrayed, though her first instinct was to quickly sit up and cover her head.

"Blythe!" she shouted angrily before storming off out of bed and into the lavatory to check herself in the mirror.

Elodie had blonder hair than Blythe and always took meticulous care of it. I always thought it must be exhausting to put that much constant effort into one's physical appearance. She also took about thirty minutes every morning to put on make-up and another thirty to style her hair. I had asked her once why she felt the need to put in so much effort but she only replied by trying to convince me to do the same. In response, I had quickly run out of the dorm before she could even raise her wand to try and curl my hair.

We all speculated that maybe it had to do with her three other sisters who had since graduated Hogwarts and apparently, during their school days they had had a popular reputation. I knew now that each of the sisters were either engaged or married to their boyfriends from school and were all set to settle down. I didn't know where this left Elodie, the youngest out of them all.

"Don't even think about it, Turner," Zelene scathed as she slowly sat up to give Blythe a pointed look.

The commotion Blythe had caused presumably woke her up before her mouth could become full of feathers. I was still trying to fish them all out of mine.

Despite still being mildly annoyed with Blythe, I couldn't help now but share in her excitement. It was only a week away from the break and this was the first snow fall. It also happened to ever so conveniently be on a weekend.

With this newfound energy, I threw myself out of bed to start rooting around in my trunk for my favourite jumper and snow pants. There was no more time to waste since the winter days were already too short and each minute of sunlight counted. The others were busy in the washroom so I decided to wait downstairs instead since I knew Blythe wouldn't let them be too long. Already I had my coat, mittens and hat ready in my hands as I made my way to sit in the common room. A little surprisingly, James, Sirius and the others were already awake and making their way through the common room when I arrived.

"I'm surprised to see you all up before noon," I called out to them only to notice just how exhausted they all looked.

"Are you just getting in?" I followed-up in a more admonishing tone.

James was never one for rules, but this seemed a little extreme for him to have been up and out all night.

"Never mind, Addie," James grumbled as he walked past, headed for his dorm.

I knew not to take anything personally James said when he was tired. He often exhibited the personality of a troll when he was.

"Going somewhere?" Sirius asked in a much friendlier tone, matched with a smile unlike the others.

Remus and Peter were following suit behind James all dragging their feet up the stairs.

"Yea, we're going out in the snow," I answered cheerfully, already excited for the venture.

"That sounds fun!" Sirius exclaimed. "Maybe I should join you."

"Shouldn't you go to bed?" I replied skeptically.

"I can sleep when I'm dead," he replied with a shrug.

I couldn't help but laugh as he jogged up the stairs to change. Even more surprisingly he was down and dressed before the others were even ready.

"I'm afraid to ask what it is you guys have been up to," I casually said as Sirius and I sat down to wait for the others.

"I thought you didn't ask the questions you didn't want the answers to, so you could maintain your innocence," he taunted back.

"True, but I have noticed you guys go out nearly every night now," I continued.

Sirius just shrugged, and I quickly let the topic drop. I did want to maintain my innocence, especially since I knew my parents would be asking me about James in only a couple of days.

Minutes later the rest of my dormmates were carrying themselves down the stairs, all dressed in their snowsuits.

"What about Wendall and Max?" Elodie asked once we all headed out the portrait hole.

"They'll know where we are," Blythe answered nonplussed; there was nothing getting in between us and the snow now.

We only stopped once at the kitchens to pick up an assortment of muffins and other pastries to bring along on our excursion.

"It's so much easier that we can drop by the kitchens whenever we please," Elodie said with food in all of our arms.

"Well, you can thank James and I for that," Sirius commented pompously.

"Excuse me! I'm the one who showed James!" I retorted back sharply.

Sirius scoffed. "And who is going to believe you over me?"

"All of us," the others all answered in unison.

Sirius sulked nibbling into his muffin, but no one payed any mind as we all wandered outside.

Blythe was the first one to throw a snow ball which ignited a frenzy that immediately turned Sirius' brooding into sheer determination.

We all partnered off after that into opposite ends of the grounds.

Keeping a sharp eyes on the others, Fern and Wendall started working together to build a protective fort. I guess the boys hadn't been too far behind us.

Blythe was off with Max and I could already see their impressive pile of snow balls being built. This left Elodie and Zelene who were taking refuge behind a tree to build their own pile.

"What's the play, Ly?" Sirius asked with his own impressive number of snowballs for the two of us.

I knew my friends well. Elodie and Zelene lacked the athletic edge and target precision but I knew how competitive the two of them could be, they wouldn't be an easy elimination. Fern and Wendall would play it safe and probably offer refuge and the promise of protection to whichever team got to them first; their fort was already half constructed and had the two of them already out of view. This left Blythe and Max who would be deadly.

I quickly led Sirius over towards the Black Lake since that would give us the advantage of not being snuck up on. It also provided a clear vantage point of the others.

We ended up leaving Wendall and Fern alone since they had created quite an elaborate shelter which seemed impenetrable without being bombarded by the others in the time it would take to figure out how to get in. Elodie and Zelene were easy enough targets, but their tactic was volume instead of accuracy. This meant that every time Sirius and I approached, we were met with a tirade of snowballs coming from seemingly every direction. Even thought their target rate was only about 30%, it was still unpleasant to try and ambush them.

Our main targets ended up being Blythe and Max since it felt like being on the quidditch pitch. Like quidditch, Blythe and Max never stayed in one place for very long and always tried to attack from behind. Despite Max's sheer size they were pretty successful at these maneuvers. We tried to make it more difficult for them by staying near the lake, but we didn't always win.

"Where's Turner at?" Sirius asked while we took a moment to restock our ammunition.

Looking up, I surveyed the grounds only to immediately frown at the question.

"They were just over in the west end," I pointed at the now vacant spot.

Sirius frowned too but continued to fill our stock pile. I kept surveying the grounds and became worried with each passing moment. They were definitely planning something.

Out of no where it seemed as if Sirius and I were caught up in a blizzard. It was even more bizarre to realise that there was no snow falling ten feet in front of us. This caused me to look up and see Blythe and Max hanging out in a tree and dropping snow onto us. Though before I could even think up a strategy for the cheap shot, Sirius completely bulldozed me by diving on top of me to offer himself up as protection. Then there was nothing to do but wait out the hail storm with Sirius inches from my face, each of us staring awkwardly into each other's eyes. I could feel his hot breath on my face which seemed to cause heat to rise to my cheeks. I was very much at a loss for words.

"Oi, what are you doing to my sister, Black?" James shouted across the grounds with a surprising ring in his voice.

"I thought you were sleeping, Jamie," Sirius quipped without missing a beat as he got up from on top of me.

The snow attack had thankfully ended.

"Well you lot were being too loud, we could hear you from the tower," James continued with a scowl. "And that doesn't answer my question, Black."

"I was sacrificing myself for Ly," he said simply.

James mulled over the answer for a moment before replying.

"Oh, okay then. That's acceptable."

Incredulously, I shot James a look which told him he wasn't my keeper, but he shrugged it off before going off to chase after Peter who was running towards the sanctuary of Fern and Wendall's fort. James however caught up and tackled him to the ground, stuffing his face full of snow. Watching them, I shook my head, feeling sorry for the bloke before I noticed Max and Blythe approaching with another attack. Sirius and I resumed into action by collecting our stash of snowballs and then pelting them at everyone who approached. This lasted long into the evening since we all refused to accept defeat. Our stomachs ended up eventually winning over, forcing us to call a truce in order to head up to the Great Hall when the sun started to set.

"I'm starved," I called out to no one in particular once we all finally sat down for dinner.

My stomach grumbled at the sight of roast beef with all the fixings.

Sirius chuckled beside me, earning him an elbow in the ribs to get him to stop.

"Is that any way to treat your saviour?" he asked with exaggerated bravado.

I just rolled my eyes before turning to talk to Blythe who was sitting on my other side.

"So, who won the fight?" I challenged the rest of the Gryffindors.

"Us of course," Blythe replied simply.

"Fat chance of that," James piped in.

Since James, Peter and Remus joined in, the game had gotten even more intense. Peter ended up hiding with Fern and Wendall, but Remus teamed up with James who was probably the most competitive out of all of us. James was also surprisingly good at strategy and had executed several attacks on us despite our opportune location. My soaking clothes were proof of the attacks we had endured.

Our rant also carried out throughout the meal as we all defended our own case for who had won. Of course, by the end, we were no closer to naming a winner and just forfeited out of exhaustion. We had spent the entire day outside in the midst of our battle and were now past ready for sleep.

By the time I finally crashed down onto my bed I barely had enough energy to crawl under the covers. Sleep came instantly by the time I pulled them up to my face and relished in the warmth they provided.

XXX

A week later we were packing our trunks and heading for Hogsmeade Station. I was very excited to be heading home for the holidays and being able to see my parents. Of course, we had written back-and-forth constantly, but I was still worried about how constant their names were appearing in the Daily Prophet these days.

"I can't wait to eat all the plum pudding I can get my hands on!" Max exclaimed once we all sat down in a compartment.

James and the other fifth years had opted to sit in their own compartment which freed up a lot of space. As much as I liked my brother and his friends, the extra leg room was nice, especially since we were all getting older.

"Yea, well my favourite is decorating the Christmas tree," Elodie said excitedly.

"Are your sisters all coming home?" I asked.

Elodie shrugged. "Probably, but I haven't talked to them recently."

I found it strange that there were four sisters and Elodie hardly spoke to any of them throughout the year. One of her sister's, Francine, had even been at Hogwarts during our first two years but we had hardly ever seen her. I couldn't imagine ignoring James, no matter how annoying he could be.

"Will Sirius be staying at your place over the holidays?" Fern asked to change the subject.

"Yea, he always does," I answered simply.

"Have you figured out what the boys have been up to?" she continued.

"No, and I don't think I want to know."

"We hear them leave every night and they usually don't come back until dawn," Wendall added.

I simply shrugged again. The others looked at me skeptically.

"Do you think that's why they got their own compartment this time?" Fern asked.

I shrugged a third time, much to the annoyance of the rest, but I honestly had no idea what it was the boys were up to and felt it best that it stayed that way.

The group then shared a look before all turning to face me.

"Absolutely not!" I exclaimed immediately, folding my arms over my chest, already knowing what they were thinking.

"They're in the next compartment," Zelene said innocently.

"And you're the smallest," Blythe added which I returned with a fierce scowl.

"Fern is smaller, actually," I retorted grumpily.

"Yea, but you're stealthier," Max replied with a smirk.

I looked at Fern for help.

"Well, it's true," she said simply, obviously not offended and probably relieved the attention hadn't been turned onto her.

"You've done it before," Elodie reasoned which earned her a frustrated sigh.

In our second year they had forced me to crawl into the vent to spy on James since that had been the only other time the boys had sat separately from us. It turned out that James had been trying to think of a plan to ask out Lily Evans and hadn't wanted the embarrassment of talking it out in front of his younger sister. We had all howled with laughter when I had reported back.

"You know I'm not twelve years old anymore, what if I don't fit?" I asked as a last-ditch effort to change the plan.

But Max was already standing and offering his hand to boost me up, the conversation clearly over. I sighed again in begrudging defeat before climbing up onto Max's hand before reaching to open the grate. The vent was smaller than I remembered, my feet uselessly hanging out. However, I inched closer so that my face could press up against the opposite vent where I could see James and Sirius sitting across. This meant that Peter and Remus must be sitting underneath me.

"I can't believe we finally did it! The feeling was almost euphoric!" Sirius exclaimed which immediately caused me to cringe.

_I really didn't want to eavesdrop on this particular conversation._

"Yea, plus I'm finally glad to be able to get some sleep after all those long nights. I knew we were close!" James added.

From my cramped vantage point I watched the boys quizzically. Despite claiming to want to maintain my innocence for the sake of my parents, I had been intrigued as to why the boys had been sneaking out every night. We had already spent many nights trying to guess and my group of friends already nixed the idea of them meeting up with some girls due to the fact that Peter tagged along all the time. The boy couldn't talk to girls let alone ask one out.

"You know you guys didn't have to do this," I heard Remus say quietly.

_It almost seems like he's embarrassed._

"Not this again, Moony, we told you we would do it," James responded.

_Moony? What was that? They had never used nicknames before._

"Well I appreciate it, Prongs," Remus replied sincerely.

_It seems like they all have new, dopey nicknames._

"What if people figure it out from Remus' boggart?" Peter squeaked more than voiced his question.

_Moony? Remus had been afraid of the full moon. Or werewolves…_

"No one will figure it out, who would even suspect?" Sirius answered casually, his hand waving dismissively.

"But Snape has been following us around," Peter added worriedly.

I could see Sirius' face turn at that. "That snake needs to learn to mind his own damn business!"

"Calm down, Padfoot, he won't find out a thing," James added, trying to calm Sirius down.

"But what if Severus finds out Remus is a werewolf?!" Peter asked, his voice even higher than usual.

My breath caught in my throat.

"That's why we use the nicknames, Peter! Don't say that out loud!" James chastised.

_Remus was a werewolf! That's why he was always so sickly. That's why he didn't talk about his past._

It was no secret how marginalized werewolves were amongst the wizard population.

It also explained his boggart and a lot of other things over the past four years. But what had the boys been doing? It was extremely dangerous to be around a werewolf during a full moon, they had little control over their faculties.

A chilling thought crossed my mind.

_What if Remus had accidently turned them?_

_No, that was foolish._

I chastised myself. Remus would never put them in harm's way like that or at the very least he would never forgive himself if he did turn one of his friends and Remus hadn't looked especially guilty about anything recently.

I decided to come out of the vent then since I had heard more than enough.

"So? What's the scoop?" Zelene asked once I returned to my seat.

"Oh, he's just ogling about Lily again. He wants to know what to get her for a Christmas present," I said as convincingly as I could with a hearty eye roll to boot.

The others started to laugh, all accept for Blythe who looked over at me knowingly. I just shrugged back at her. She kept her stare for a few moments before deciding to finally turn away.

Blythe knew me too well, but this definitely wasn't my secret to tell. I knew my friends most likely wouldn't think much of Remus' condition, but James had never even told me. Remus obviously wanted to keep this private and I respected that.

For the rest of the trip I tried to think about the other nicknames that they had used.

If Moony was code for werewolf, what in the name of Merlin did Padfoot and Prongs mean?

I remained mostly quiet for the rest of the train ride back to London while I pondered over the details.

Whatever the boys had been doing had something to do with keeping Remus' secret and involved completing some sort of project.

But they had also bestowed new nicknames onto themselves other than the Marauders.

So, if Moony meant werewolf… did the others indicate something else? Like other animals or creatures.

Once the train pulled into King's Cross I could see James and the others already passing by with their trunks and laughing together. I stared at each one of them as they walked by, frowning with the answer on the tip of my tongue.

_What have you gotten yourself into this time, James?_


End file.
